Sunday, November 30, 2014

(From last week's shop update. Sorry! A little late on the uptake here, but hilarious nonetheless. I re-read this little story I wrote along with the post earrings on Etsy, and couldn't resist sharing.)

These photos are taken on my coffee table,

not three feet from the wood stove we keep roaring this time of year.

It just so happens I was lucky to be part of a great party and wedding this fall,

one where golden animals seated themselves as centerpieces at each table.

It ALSO just so happens I ended up with a golden squirrel,

after much coaxing from the bride herself,

to give up this golden dude...

at least for a photo or two.

The fire roars behind me,almost burning the low of my back,through a few layers of hand-me-down sweaters and thick work pants.but I don't really care today since there's an EXTRA thick coat of frost outside.

There really is nothing like wood-stove heat.I feel some days it heating up my bones,through the white and into the marrow.Days when I feel my most gloomy,there's nothing like warming my inner grump with this heat.

And practically,this fire is our only source of heat.Something that is a beast of burden in, oh, FEBRUARY,when you're so sick of chopping and gathering and stacking and burning wood,the mere sight pisses you off. But today, the chore seems....kinda nice. A gift, really.

And so I linger here a little longer,take stock of the warm home I can sometimes grumble about,take in the quality of my life.It's 3 degrees outside,ten o'clock on a Wednesday.And I'm inside my home taking pictures of a gold spray painted toy squirrel.

My life is pretty damn good these days.Pretty damn good. ...................

and I can't help but be a little envious of their trapeze-y jumping in the treetops.

This animal represents, in so many different cultures,

the totemic spirituality of *squirrel-ing* away,

of preparedness, of bringing to the table what you've got.

and I could go on and on about how,

in the middle of November,

I am feeling like old man winter has, yet again, caught us with our pants down.

Montana is not exactly forgiving when it comes to wintertime.

And JP and I have YET to hit a winter where we felt good about our preparedness.

But this year, it's even worse.

I could say,

our house,

torn apart, down to it's bones,

is hardly ready for winter.

It makes me uneasy and, well,

cold.

We need a roof,

insulation,

windows and doors,

and the list goes on and on and on.

The pot of money, however, does not draw a list so long.

Throw that all in a nutshell (bad pun yes) where JP,

the main steamrolling workforce and construction knowhow,

has been in Wyoming for the past 6 weeks,

trying to make that pot of money we really could use.

So I have been in charge of the bones while he's gone,

which, honestly,

is really just making sure our water lines don't freeze.

(Insert wandering rant about how much I miss him, how much I am OVER the distance, and how much I truly, from the bottom of my being, think another face-time conversation might either make me cry heaving sadness, or make my head explode. I miss that man so very much it makes my eyebrows freeze into wrinkly and tortured canyons of sadness and self-pity. like the GRAND canyon, folks. seriously furrowed. deep. and mean. and dark.)

The Squirrel is all about fun,

so much more than we give him credit.

And honestly,

I could use a little of that lightheartedness myself...

The adult world gets me down sometimes.

Homes are full of stresses and worry,

expensive fixes and just plain ol' expenses.

My man is home soon, but honestly not soon enough.

It's so invigorating to truly enjoy my time in the studio,

which, silly enough,

this week includes creating teeny tiny silver acorns.

I literally giggled through this whole work process.

I kept muttering to myself...."awwww, nuts".....and then,

barely hiding a laugh out loud so childlike it took me aback as it fell out of my mouth.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

I've been hoarding this stone for my Mother for almost a year, promising her at every long-distance conversation that something grande was in the works...something she could wear everyday, something she could brag on, something that fit her. well. And that was a lie, at least in the physical form. Sometimes It takes more time than you think to watch an idea come to fruition. And I've really only had a chance to get my hands dirty with silver here in the last few weeks, after recuperation of my little surgery and the tricklings of the rest of my crazy summer season. It's all I could do for awhile, really, was sit...try not to stretch funny, and try not to breathe too hard. Pain killers make your head fuzzy, made me so tired, and so it felt like absolute freedom to FINALLY walk into that happy little studio, bathed in yellow light, and create something after a full week on the couch... crystal clear and overwhelmingly free. It was both perfect and introspective, that time to sit, truly sit, and become part of this promise of something awesome.

It's been a real dose of reality, that in fact, we are all so fragile, yet so very tough too.

And It's a surprise, but this piece will end up in her hands after my plane lands in Denver next week. I never want to make my mama cry, but I know her well enough.....that this might just do it.

I know not everyone is blessed with a great relationship with their parents, and so this makes it all the sweeter, because my Mama is really a dear confidant and friend. As the years between us matter less and less, the obvious gene pool we share is more a common core than a battlefield. No doubt, the mirror that is your mother can truly be separating, but for now, I revel in our common denominator.